Israeli historian critical of his homeland speaks at City Club despite criticism from Jewish Federation

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Even before Ilan Pappe, Ph.D., took the stage at the City Club of Cleveland on Friday, board president Robyn Minter Smyers addressed the community's objections to his appearance.

"While we have received some favorable feedback, respected community leaders, valued civic partners and members of the community have raised serious objections," Minter Smyers said, adding that some have characterized Pappe's writings and speech as anti-Israel, anti-Semitic and hate speech.

Pappe was in Cleveland this week to bring a message about why Israelis, Jewish-Americans and the international community at large should question "the idea of Israel," the title of his talk.

"The most important part of my biography, I think, is that I was born in Israel in 1954," Pappe said. "My parents escaped Nazi Germany in the 1930s, and both my mother and my father lost most of their relatives in the Holocaust."

Pappe's Israeli identity is incredibly important to him, and by extension, his scholarship and activism, he said.

"Do you agree that Palestinians were expelled from Palestine? Do you agree that Israel systematically abuses Palestinian rights on the ground? Do you agree that, as Jewish persons, we should do all we can to ground the Palestinians equal rights? That's the issue," Pappe said in response to a question from the audience.

When he was interrupted during that response, Pappe said, "My dear friend, I did not interrupt you. This is not Israel here. I am entitled to finish my sentence."

Pappe likened the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to episodes from American history.

"In America, you fought each other in a bloody civil war," Pappe said. "Nobody came after the Civil War and said, 'Because of the Civil War, we have no chance of living together.' Believe me, whatever Palestinians did to Israelis and Israelis did to Palestinians, it does not compare at all to what you guys did to each other in the 19th century."

Pappe also discussed how Israel was founded on land where people were already living, similar to America.

"Well you know what people did here when they found someone else living (here)," he said. "You genocided the natives of America. As did the Australians, as did the people of New Zealand, as did, to a certain extent, the people who moved from Europe to certain parts of Africa."

The tensions in the audience were merely a microcosm of the controversy sparked throughout Northeast Ohio surrounding Pappe's appearances. In addition to the City Club, Pappe also spoke at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University and Kent State University, the City Club said.

"Sadly, when speakers like Pappe find a platform at the City Club and at local universities, it is a painful reminder that our work to bridge cultural divides and foster mutual respect is far from done," the Federation said.

In a response to such criticism, City Club CEO Dan Moulthrop released a statement last week in which he harkened back to the institution's "commitment to celebrating, exercising and honoring freedom of speech, expression and academic inquiry."

"We have heard perspectives on Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Jordan and Libya, Gaza and the West Bank, and though there have been many speakers, none has brought Pappe's point of view, that of an Israeli Jew, living more or less in exile, deeply critical of his homeland," Moulthrop wrote.

"We will not be able to get the Israelis, who have privileges, to allow the Palestinians to have equal rights, which they have been robbed of in the last 100 years," Pappe said.

"A way of doing it without the bloodshed, without war and without violence... I really feel that there's no other way but putting strong external pressure on Israel through the boycott and divestment and sanction (BDS) movement," he said.

The Anti-Defamation League released a statement Friday afternoon criticizing Pappe's talk at the City Club.

"Pappe's offensive views, which include support for the BDS movement and a rejection of Israel as a Jewish state, make him unfit to be a balanced and objective presenter on these issues," said ADL Cleveland regional director Jeremy Pappas.

Pappas said the ADL met with the City Club earlier this week to express its opposition to his appearance.

"We highlighted Pappe's long history of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist views, and indeed, during his City Club speech today, Pappe was candidly open about his disturbing positions of Israel, stating, 'Creation of the state of Israel was an act of ethnic cleansing of the indigenous people of Palestine.'"

However, some audience members and community organizations believe Pappe's criticism of Israel does not necessitate anti-Semitism or hate speech. Community partners for his talk included Cleveland Jewish Voice for Peace, Cleveland Peace Action, Interfaith Peace-Builders, the Northeast Ohio Consortium for Middle East Studies, the Department of History at Case Western Reserve University and the Middle Eastern Studies Program at Cleveland State University.

Ted Steinberg is the Adeline Barry Davee Distinguished Professor of History at Case Western Reserve University and co-leader of Cleveland Jewish Voices for Peace.

"The plight of the Palestinians is one of the greatest oppressions in modern history," Steinberg said in a statement. "Pappe is fighting back against this horrible abuse and mistreatment with evidence-based arguments. That's what his talk at the City Club was about. Unfortunately, many in Cleveland's Jewish community don't like his message, so they want to shoot the messenger."

Steinberg said that criticism from the Jewish Federation and others does not refute "Pappe's claims about the expulsion and continued abuse of the Palestinians with logic and evidence," but rather, it tries to "distract people by calling Pappe an anti-Semite and a hater. He is neither," Steinberg said.

Regardless of differences in opinion, the atmosphere in the crowd Friday was amicable, especially during Pappe's more light-hearted moments. The audience shared in laughter when someone's iPhone marimba ringtone interrupted Pappe's talk and he said, "If it's my mother, tell her everything's okay."